July 6 (Reuters) – The heads of MI5 and the FBI warned of the growing long-term threat posed by China to UK and US interests in their first joint appearance on Wednesday.
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the service had now “more than doubled our previously limited efforts against China’s worrying activity”, adding that it was conducting seven times more investigations than in 2018.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Chinese government “poses the greatest long-term threat” to the economic and national security of the UK, US and allies in Europe and elsewhere.
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“The Chinese government is trying to shape the world by meddling in our politics (and those of our allies, I should add),” Ray said, saying Beijing had directly interfered in congressional elections in New York this year. as they do not want a candidate elected who was a critic and former Tiananmen Square protester.
Ray warned that the Chinese government “poses an even more serious threat to Western business than even many experienced businessmen realize” and is “out to steal your technology.”
The Chinese government’s hacking program is “bigger than that of every other major country combined,” according to Wray.
The Chinese national flag is seen in Beijing, China, April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
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In the past year, the UK has shared intelligence with 37 countries to help them protect against cyber espionage, McCallum said, adding that in May they dismantled a sophisticated threat targeting critical aerospace companies.
Speaking about Taiwan, which China considers a province, Ray said China could try to take it by force and if that happened, “it would represent one of the most terrible business disruptions the world has ever seen.”
“The widely held assumption in the West that China’s growing prosperity and increasing connectivity with the West will automatically lead to greater political freedom has, I’m afraid, proven to be completely wrong,” McCallum said.
“The allegations against China by US and UK intelligence officials are completely baseless and the so-called cases they listed are pure shadow persecution,” a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the UK said in response to a question about the comments made by McCallum and Wray.
The spokesman said China urged the two countries “to have a clear understanding of the trend of the times, abandon the Cold War mentality that has long been outdated, stop spreading the ‘China threat’ and stop creating confrontation and conflict.”
Speaking at MI5 headquarters in Thames House, London, both security chiefs gave numerous examples of China-related problems, asking an audience of businessmen and academics to be cautious and encouraging them to work with the FBI and MI5 , so they can have appropriate intelligence on this threat.
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Reporting by Jubi Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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